Saudi Aramco was awarded the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Award for Innovative Project Management for the completion of Phase 1 of its Master Gas System (MGS) Expansion project. The project employed a wide range of efficiency practices to deliver phase 1 of the project before schedule and under budget.

The MGS project is a large-scale project undertaken to meet increasing demand for natural gas in Saudi Arabia, and in response to the Kingdom’s direction to complement oil with natural gas as a cleaner burning fuel.

The project includes a 660 km-long cross-country pipeline that will deliver natural gas from producing fields on the Eastern coast of the Kingdom to its Western coast. It also includes construction of two major facilities for compressing natural gas that are among the largest of its type in the world.

Saudi Aramco Vice President for Project Management, Fahad Al Helal received the award on behalf of Saudi Aramco from H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council at a ceremony held in Dubai. The ceremony was organized in conjunction with the Dubai International Project Management Forum and in the presence of dignitaries and executives from the public and private project management sector.

Al Helal said: “Saudi Aramco is proud to receive this recognition for the successful project management and completion of Phase 1 of the cross-country gas expansion project. This achievement reflects Saudi Aramco’s commitment to capital efficiency practices to lower capital cost and improve productivity, in order to provide energy to our customers and enable them to power the Kingdom’s economic growth and progress.”

He added: “Creativity, flexibility and excellence are the hallmarks of Saudi Aramco’s project management team. Saudi Aramco has a long and successful track record of completing complex and challenging megaprojects where we apply our project management experience to create economic benefits for the Kingdom and its growing project and construction requirements.”

The Hamdan Bin Mohammed Award for Innovation in Project Management was launched in 2015 under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council to recognize best practices and excellence in project management and execution worldwide.